Horst Stottmeister

Freestyle wrestler Horst Stottmeister won European titles at middleweight in 1970, and light-heavyweight in 1975. At the Olympic Games, he twice finished an unfortunate fourth, at München in 1972, and Montréal four years later. At the 1976 Games he was injured in his next-to-last bout against Sweden’s Frank Andersson when he tore a meniscus cartilage in one of his knees. In his last fight against Ben Peterson, he was unable to move and lost his chance of a medal.

In 1971, 1973 and 1975, Stottmeister won the silver medal at the World Championships, and in 1971, 1973-74, won East German national titles. After re-unification, he returned to wrestling and regularly participated in senior championships. He was also active as an international referee.

Stottmeister trained as a cook and graduated as a sports teacher. He later managed the well-known restaurant “Gewandhaus” in Leipzig for several years. After re-unification, he took over the ownership of another Leipzig restaurant in 1993 that was to be named after him. It was subsequently managed by his daughter Jana.